NBA...What to Say?

Today is April 30, 2008 and Avery Johnson is the former coach of the Dallas Mavericks. He was fired today. While the coach of the Dallas Mavericks he won more than 170 regular season games but lost 12 of his last 15 playoff games. And in the NBA, according to Tim Legler of ESPN, that will get you fired. Mike D'Antoni, coach of the Phoenix Sun could soon find himself out of a job according to critics. But the NBA is an ethical enigma. Drug use by players is prohibited and for insurance there are four random tests throughout the season. That is scrupulous to say the least. But there is an arguably unhealthy premimium on not just winning but winning in the playoffs. Coaches are given 2-3 years to produce if they show signs of life by winning regular season games. When that "almost-a-champion" phase has exhausted itself, NBA franchises search for the missing pieces (i.e. Jason Kidd and Shaq") complete their puzzles and march to the next step. Teams will do anything to win even if it undermines the coach. I'm pretty convinced that coaches know how to win once the right ingredients are at their disposal. But it's clear that coaches do not always have the authority they represent. Coaches are cogs just like players. They are a means for the parent organism to flourish and when they become expendable, teams release them too. It's hard to believe that winning isn't enough but it isn't. Winnng at the end is all that matters to Mark Cuban. But I don't remember him playing in the NBA which Avery Johnson and Mike D'Antoni both did. Yes, the NBA is a compex riddle. The NBA Cares but it does so for communities domestic and abroad by utilizing its member, the players/coaches. These men are the image of the NBA in flesh and bring the league millions of dollars. Nevertheless, if they should falter because of an increasingly competitive Western Conference, Heads roll. Johnson will find another job soon. I'm not worried about that. But one thing is certain, professional basketball is a big boy industry with unreasonably high expectations to match its exorbitant salaries. Good or bad, it's definitely business.

Arrogance: Part 2

The last blog was a reflection about a gifted young athlete I observed that was missing humility. He brandished his selfishness refusing to pass the ball and insulted both opposing players and the game of basketball itself. But why is arrogance bad for sport? Where's the edge in competition if you don't have a swagger. I find that it's hard to talk about humility to winners, people who have success doing it their way. When an athlete employs arrogance and destroys the competition, who am I to refute it? In a debate I now realize I cannot argue against arrogant players who champion their prowess and point to the score board when they are criticized. We'd like to say that prideful people soon come to ruin but I've learned that this "ruin" isn't necessarily described in terms of losses. So what is it that arrogance does that is so corrosive? Answer: The corrosive piece associated with arrogance is DECEPTION. It's been said that deception is what it is because you don't know it's happening to you. So in essence, the arrogant athlete is of the belief that he/she will never be in a position of want. The arrogant athlete operates from a well-founded position of authority because he/she is more gifted than the masses. But there are forces in the world that can strip the arrogant athlete of his/her power. Athletes are a commodity, as quiet as it is kept. They build reputations for high schools, attract new recruits for colleges and make money for everyone except the athlete until draft day comes, if it comes. In the shadows lurks the law system, jealous friends and potentially spiteful administrative bodies. Arrogance makes one expendable over time the way a slow cooker prepares the evening meal. Ten years may pass as the athlete simmers in his/her juices of arrogance and when the athlete is done stewing, he/she is surrounded by one of two things: cut-throat opportunists or no one at all. Arrogant athletes create a scenario where they are only worth as much as they can produce. But the humble athlete gets a pardon when performance starts to tail off. The humble athlete is kept on the team because he/she has value beyond ability and it is this value that moves an athlete from simply phenomenal to contagious. Arrogance isolates you and makes your teammates wish you forgot your shoes. Humility creates synergy so that your desire to win is multiplied exponentially. So the next time some arrogant player defends him/herself saying that arrogance is my cold-hearted edge, admit that they are correct. The humble competitor finds his/her edge in preparation and not in brashness and you can promise the arrogant athlete that his/her edge will cut them from the inside out.

Arrogance: Part 1

I attended a high school all-star game on Saturday between the San Gabriel Valley Tribune and Pasadena Star News teams. If you're not familiar with this prep all-star game, I won't bore you with the names of the high schools involved. What I will say is that it is amazing what talent can buy certain people in this world. I watched an athlete who wore the #3 for one particular high school team from Pasadena. His athletic skills were unparallelled as he slashed the lane, snatched rebounds from above the rim and fluidly coursed through the competition as if they were stationary cones from an obstacle course. He won the slam dunk competition and posted MVP honors for his team at game's end. But don't mistake my honesty for impression. I WAS FAR FROM IMPRESSED. I was appalled. When you are as gifted as this young man, the world takes notice and immediately begins offering you approval. You can ignore your teammates, yell derogatory statements at opposing competition and neglect playing defense but all people see is that you can straddle three people on your way to an electrifying dunk. When you're arrogant and talented, people say, "He's got to be that way....it gives him his edge." These are fitting words because an edge is what knives have and they can be used to complement lives or destroy them. This young man I observed was consumed with himself and he made fans of his own team angry. I sat in the stands watching sponsors and coaches coddle this player. "Which Division I are y'all going to," the player heckled to opposing teammates. If I were the coach of his all-star team, I would have subbed him out immediately for the duration of the game. When will the sports world send messages to young athletes that giftedness does not equal superiority. Everyone needs limits. Arrogance may as well be cancer because one day we'll all be average and not the talk of the town.